Chessmen
by lovelyapper
Summary: Peter really wanted to know what they were talking about, and he pondered whether he had ever wanted anything so badly before. His beady eyes still facing the door, he pricked up his ears and tried to silence the noises coming out of his asthma-bothered lungs. He was ever so lucky – the very next sentence told him enough.


**A/N: **I really just wanted to have fun with Peter! I had fun, and I hope it shows. My sense of humor is kind of odd, I know. Also, English is not my native language, so... bear with me and my spelling errors, or point them out to me. R&R!

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.  
**Beta:** No.

* * *

**Chessmen**

Two dark-haired boys were talking in their dormitory on one certain Thursday evening.

"You can't keep it in forever, mate," James Potter said sympathetically while cleaning his glasses on the hem of his shirt. "Wouldn't it be just easier to, you know... tell him?"

"Hell no!" Sirius Black whined from the dormitory floor on which he was sprawled, back against the thick red carpet. "He'll hate me for the rest of his life. I wouldn't want that."

James stood up from his bed. "But you know what I want? I want him to know. I really do, 'cause he should know."

"No! He doesn't need to know anything," Black barked from the floor. "You'll just keep your huge mouth shut, okay?"

"Maybe I will and maybe I won't," James retorted annoyingly and walked towards the closed dormitory door. "I think Remus would actually _like_ to know that someone fancies him that way."

"James, don't you dare..." Sirius whispered.

Potter twisted the doorknob. "So maybe I'll just go and –"

THUD.

"The bloody hell?" James cried and tried to push the heavy boy, who was lying on top of him, off. "Pete? Get off me!"

Peter scrambled awkwardly up and started to stammer. "I just... I was – I mean... wasn't mean to... eavesdrop. S-sorry."

Sirius had stood up as well and was now facing Peter, who resembled considerably a dead fish. "You heard?"

Peter nodded tentatively and Sirius continued, "How much did you hear, Pete?"

"Well... It was about Moony," Peter squealed and gave everyone a quick reminder why his Animagus form was a rat.

"Bugger," James muttered from the floor.

Sirius stared at Peter, while his fists were shaking uncontrollably. "You cannot tell Remus anything, Pete!"

"I –"

"He can't know!" Sirius bellowed and stormed off.

Peter, still rather white, turned to look at the boy lying uncomfortably on the stone floor. He cocked a lazy brow to Potter as if to ask what had crawled up in Sirius' arse. James got up, dusted his robes and faced Peter. "You know what... you _should_ tell Moony."

"What? But Pads just said –"

"Well Pads doesn't really know what he's talking about, mate," James said matter-of-factly. "I know love when I see it. This is love. And Moony should know about it."

Peter was baffled. "Then why don't you tell him? Why is it my job?"

"Do this one Pete," James said solemnly. "Do this for me and I promise you, you shall never be without chocolate ever again."

Peter just gawked at his friend.

"Fine," he muttered.

* * *

Peter Pettigrew was having a jolly good time with his chessmen.

It should be said that he wasn't really playing chess nor was he doing any other chess-related activity at the moment, except building a brilliant tower made entirely out of his chessmen on the common room coffee table. It was going to be a grand tower. Nearly finished, he reached for the last piece. The last of his men was to go...

That was when he noticed that the last of his chessmen was not there.

"What the –"

He did a quick search under the table; nothing. He checked his pockets and the container in which he kept the pieces.

Nothing.

"Must've left it in the trunk, then," he noted to himself and got up. It wasn't as if the last piece was something overly important to Peter, but he rarely had any relatively significant accomplishments of his own, so this was going to count big time. He had spent the last half an hour building the Grand Tower of the Common Room Coffee Table and he wasn't going to give up now. No sir. So, he skipped up the stairs and was just about to open the door to the dormitory, when he heard someone speak inside.

"_But do you know what I want?" _ Peter realized immediately that the speaker was Prongs. He contemplated going in, but Potter's continuing creaky voice interrupted his train of thought._ "I want him to know, he should know."_

Peter didn't consider himself an eavesdropper, but who could pass a super juicy opportunity like this? He wanted to hear who were they talking about, so he tried to hush his babbling brain and leaned closer to the door. The other voice he had heard before was more distant than James'.

Then a voice_ –_ _Padfoot__,_ Peter's ticking brain commented_ –_ snarled behind the closed door,_"__No. _He doesn't need to know anything. _You'll just keep your huge mouth shut, okay?"_

Peter furrowed his brows. He had no idea what was going on behind his back. Or... right in front of him? Maybe if he turned around and leaned his back against the door he could encounter the two Marauders later and bust them for talking _behind his back_. Maybe. Yeah, he should turn around. Come to think of it, he couldn't really tell them that they had been talking in front of him, now could he? That'd be just stupid. So yes, turning around was definitely the smartest way to proceed in this situation. Peter liked to think that these kinds of things were really his strong suit. Turnabouts... and stuff.

He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't hear James' voice coming closer to the door. _"Maybe I will and maybe I won't."_

Peter really wanted to know what they were talking about, and he pondered whether he had ever wanted anything so badly before. His beady eyes still facing the door, he pricked up his ears and tried to silence the noises coming out of his asthma-bothered lungs. He was ever so lucky _–_ the very next sentence told him enough.

"_I think Remus would actually like to know that someone fancies him that way. So maybe I'll just go and –"_

As he felt the door open, the only thing that crossed Peter's mind before he fell on top of James Potter, was "Bollocks."

* * *

"Moony?"

Remus Lupin gazed up from his homework and smiled at his friend. "Oh hi Peter. You need something?"

Peter tried not to inhale too much of the dusty library air, but couldn't stop himself from breathing and coughed a little. How could Moony stand this air? Not that Peter didn't like books and quiet time every now and then, but the amount of time the werewolf spent with these millennia old books was getting ridiculous. The boy started to look like a moldy book himself. Peter snickered inwardly, and remembered then why he was there to begin with. "Moony, I have something to tell you."

He pulled a chair next to Remus and sat on it, his face turned to stare the table in front of him. Remus frowned slightly and put down his quill. "What's the matter?"

"It's... not really about me," Peter said and took a quick glimpse at his friend.

"Who is it about, then?" Remus inquired patiently.

Peter inhaled keenly, as if he needed more air to get through this, which he probably did. He felt the air starting to jam into his chest once again. Bloody asthma. He made a mental note about not liking the feeling when his own lungs were out to get him, but then he thought about all the chocolate James had promised him and coughed, "It's Prongs."

Remus looked puzzled. "James? What's the matter with him?"

"He um..." Peter answered intelligently. How should he put this. "He wanted me to tell you something."

"Couldn't he tell in person?"

Peter shrugged. "I don't know! But I did promise him I would tell you."

When Remus said nothing and just kept waiting, Peter started wondering why Potter was in love with this guy. Sure, Moony was intelligent in his own way, but he wasn't handsome nor funny, like Peter was. Not that Peter wanted Prongs to love him any more than he already did, no no. It was like Potter deliberately chose the most dry and boring people in the school to date. Lily Evans was before Moony... And man, was that girl dry as a raisin. She never laughed at any of Peter's jokes.

Peter realised that his brain had started once again drift to something that wasn't happening right at the very moment, so he shook his head and blurted out, "Prongs fancies you, Moony."

The werewolf just stared at Peter, "What?"

"Yeah... Prongs. He likes you. Like a lot. I heard him talking with Pads earlier."

Remus gaped intelligently and a slight blush crept on his cheeks. "But... I don't understand. You must have heard him wrong, I mean Lily –"

"I don't know. Look, maybe she was just a phase?" Peter offered impatiently, already getting a bit annoyed with this whole thing. All Prongs had asked him to do was to tell the werewolf about his feelings, that was all. After that he would get his chocolate. No one had said anything about a bookish geek who wants the brief history of James Potter's lovelife. "He talked about loving you, Moony! He said that he knows love when he sees it and that this one is definitely love. Or something. I think I tuned out for a moment."

Lupin just sat there, without even blinking. He lowered his head and watched his fiddling fingers. "I don't believe it," he then said quietly.

Peter watched as Remus blushed a bit more, if that was even possible, and then asked, "What don't you believe? And why not?"

The other boy looked up. "Peter, I believe in mutual and eternal love, even though it might sound stupid to you. It probably does. However, I believe... that once I fall in love, the object of my love will love me back without a hesitation. And if they don't," Remus smiled sadly, "then I'm doomed to live without love, for I cannot love any other."

Peter nodded, because that made sense. Probably. "What if Prongs believes in that, too?" He tried. "You're now dooming him... and that's not good, Moony. You should know better than go dooming innocent people."

"I don't see him that way, Peter," the werewolf argued. "He's not the one I –"

"At least give him a chance," Peter tried. Merlin knows he wanted those chocolates.

Remus sighed. "I'm sorry but I can't."

Peter hadn't anticipated Moony to be this stubborn. Time to pull out the big guns. "You like chocolate, right? Prongs will buy you loads of chocolate! I'm sure of it."

"Regardless of that Peter, I have feelings for Sirius, not James. I'm sorry to say this but chocolate won't change anything."

Now it was Peter's turn to stare. "What? Pads? Since when?"

Remus shrugged uncertainly and rubbed his neck, "Since fourth year? I'm not sure."

Peter didn't say anything. What was there to say? He tried. He really tried. All he could do was to shook his head in disbelief. What the bloody hell was happening to his friends anyway? Prongs was head over heels for this dull guy over here. Then, the aforementioned dull guy refused to have a lifelong supply of chocolate frogs, which was just nutty... And lastly there was that hyper explosive gentleman who usually was just as nice to Peter as a swarm of angry wasps. Peter just wished his friends were as cool as he was.

"Maybe I should just talk to James," Remus stated quickly interrupting Peter's brilliant thoughts, packed his satchel and dashed out of the library. As soon as Peter was left alone, he banged his head on the table.

"Oh my god... This is like a Muggle soap opera, but not as entertaining," he groaned with his cheek slammed against the oak. All he wanted was to build his bloody tower. After what felt like an hour of inhaling the dust from library, Peter coughed, got up and grumbled, "If Pads has feelings for Prongs, I'll attack everybody."

* * *

"James, can I have a word with you?"

Potter was sitting in his usual spot on the common room couch, reading his favourite magazine _Quidditch Now! _when Remus walked cautiously to him.

James peered up from his paper, "Hi Moony. How's it going?"

"You know very well," Remus said and sat next to his friend. His school bag slid to the floor from his lap. "Peter came to see me in the library."

"Did he now?" James retorted and tried to suppress a grin. "Was there anything particular you guys talked about?"

Lupin spoke to his hands again, "As a matter of fact there was."

James was now merely feigning to read his magazine. "Uh-huh? And what was that?"

"James, are you... attracted to me?"

The eyes widened behind Potter's enormous goggles. He turned to Remus, "Am I what?"

Remus shifted nervously and peered at the other people in the room before continuing, "Peter told me that you... love me. Is that true?"

"No!" James squealed. "I mean, I love you mate, but seriously? I'm in love with Evans!"

Remus flushed a little. "I know that! But Peter... he had heard you and Sirius talk about me. And you had said something about loving me? I know Peter has a fertile imagination, but I don't think he imagined the whole scenery between –"

"Moony, look," James mumbled and took off his glasses. "Okay, I confess. We were talking about you, but _I_ am not the one who's in love with you. Sorry, mate."

"Oh." Something gleamed behind Remus' eyes as he let out a releaved sigh. "It's okay, I don't like you either. You know... that way."

James swept his glasses onto his sleeve and smirked. "Yeah."

Remus tried to hide the huge grin under his façade, and just vaguely smiled at his friend, "So... who were you guys talking about, exactly? Who's in love with me then?"

The Potter kid didn't need to answer that because from the other side of the room a holler announced,

"YOU SODDING GIT, PETE! PRONGS IS NOT IN LOVE WITH REMUS! I AM!"

* * *

Peter was walking to the Gryffindor Tower from the library when he saw Sirius crawling along the corridor.

"Padfoot! Hey Pads, wait!"

He ran towards Sirius, who was evidently brooding. "Hi Wormtail."

"Where are you going?"

"To the common room. I'm trying to find Remus," Sirius muttered and glanced at Peter. "You know where he is?"

"He was with me in the library just a moment ago," Peter told honestly. He wasn't able to lie to Sirius, because Peter didn't want him to get angry – the guy was so mean-looking when mad that Peter was always having a hard time with his bladder so the thing would stay in focus and not wet his school trousers publicly. Sirius knew this also.

"Why on Earth were _you_ in the library?"

Peter paled once again; Sirius also had that kind of effect on him. "I uh... I was chatting with him?"

"Remus doesn't chat."

"Well yeah," Peter drawled and rubbed his sweating neck. It was an odd sensation, feeling terribly cold and sweaty at the same time, while trying to keep his pants dry and jaws from trembling. He didn't want to look Sirius in the eye for it might have been the last straw for his bladder, so Peter was just staring at the stone walls of the corridor, trying to find a spider or some other spot to stare while Sirius was looming in front of him. But he couldn't lie, even if he wasn't looking at the guy at the moment. "Uh, Prongs asked me to see him, so... I did."

Immediately after saying that out loud, Peter remembered how Sirius was acting before, like a madman. He had also clearly said that James should not tell anything to Remus, nor should Peter. So, he already knew what to expect; he slowly shut his eyes, turned his face from the wall to meet Black's, and opened one scared eye.

Sirius looked furious. "You didn't tell him anything, did you? Oh god if you did, Pete –"

Peter decided that it was time to flee.

Sirius streched one of his long arms to grab the fabric of Peter's robes, but the rat was quicker. He scrambled forward on the stairs that were situated right under the portrait hole, but unfortunately for him Sirius and his ridiculously long legs were not far away. The small boy scurried the final steps up to the scolding Fat Lady, yelped the password hastily to her, and practically flew into the common room with Sirius in tow, for at some point Black had gotten a solid grib from Peter's robes and now came growling after him like the starving dragon he seemed to be.

Once the boys had rumbled through the portrait hole Sirius pulled Pete to his face, "Wormtail, I swear to god if you told him –"

"Prongs ordered me to!" Peter whined pathetically, but Black didn't hear him. His eyes were fixated on the center of the common room, and when Peter followed the gaze of his manhandler, he saw Remus sitting next to James on the common room couch.

Remus was flushed... and smiling at James.

Peter still tried to escape, but Sirius' grip didn't falter.

"See, Pete?" Sirius hissed to his face while gesturing towards the couch. "That's why I didn't want Remus to know! He doesn't like me!"

Peter tried hard not to notice the spit flying from Sirius' mouth. It was really remarkable how this guy was able to spit while his mouth was practically closed. Maybe that had something to do with the pure blood thing? Or maybe his whole family was full of spitters and it had been the only pastime he had had in his childhood. Poor guy, trying not to get bored while having nothing else to do than to spit in your brother's stupid face. Peter liked to spit also, but... Then something dawned on him, yet again, at the last minute. His brain had been having a really hard time concentrating that day, "W-what did y-you say?"

"I said that Remus doesn't like me!" Sirius sputtered indignantly. "That's why he wasn't supposed to know about my feelings! And _you _bloody told him!"

Peter's head was spinning. If his brain had a voice of its own, this would have been the perfect time for it to scream. "I-I thought Prongs liked him!"

Sirius let Peter slid away from his grip. "What?"

The plump boy straightened his robes and huffed, "I thought Prongs liked Moony. I... I didn't know about _you_."

"You said you heard us talking earlier," Sirius snarled. "So you didn't?"

Peter smiled sheepishly at that. "I must've misheard you guys, huh?"

"Wormtail... Answer me this. What did you tell Remus?"

The sweating started again. "I uh – I might have s-said that Prongs was... erm – in love with him?"

And then happened something what Peter had been waiting for the last five minutes. So in a way, he wasn't surprised when Sirius exploded. "YOU SODDING GIT, PETE! PRONGS IS NOT IN LOVE WITH REMUS! I AM!"

Having stopped hollering, Sirius noticed that the whole common room was staring at him.

* * *

"Bugger," James mumbled.

Remus stared at Sirius, who was now doing a grand impersonation of a beetroot. Peter stood fairly close to the guy and thought that he looked more like a pack of dynamite than a beetroot. Or something similar.

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL GAWKING AT?" the pack of exploding beetroots bellowed from the portrait hole, Peter now trying desperately to hide behind him.

Remus stood slowly up and paced towards the portrait hole, whilst Lily Evans scampered over to James.

"What are you gits doing now?" she inquired the boy.

"Pads and Moony are probably getting together," Potter answered, now reading his magazine for real. Lily turned to look at the scene taking place on the other side of the room. James turned a page and mumbled, "It's about bloody time, too."

"But here's too many people," Lily muttered to herself after and got up. "Okay lions!" she yelled to the curious Gryffindors and clapped her hands. "As a Head Girl I must ask you to leave to your dormitories at once, if however you wish to leave the Tower that can be granted. Possible complaints you ought to direct straight at professor McGonagall! Come on! Hurry up! And no peeking!"

The grumbling crowd left the common room, some of them went to their dorms, and the others left from the Tower entirely, since they weren't allowed to watch the soap opera.

* * *

Remus and Sirius could hear Lily's shouting but telepathically they decided to ignore it.

The werewolf stared Sirius and tried to read him, but failed. It wasn't because he was unable to read Sirius for he was like an open book, or because Sirius was holding back his feelings because he wasn't. No. It was because there was a distraction whining behind Sirius' back.

"I'd like to talk to you private, if that's possible," Remus said softly to Sirius and took his huge hand into his own.

"Okay Remmie," Black agreed contently, some sort of bliss shimmering on his face. The anger he had felt just moment before had vanished completely once he got his eyes on the werewolf. He stared at Remus, and the distraction behind him wasn't sure why the guy hadn't drowned on his own drool yet.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Remus tore his eyes off of Sirius and turned towards the boy behind him. "Peter, I found this on the library floor. I think you dropped it."

The werewolf tossed a piece of white wood to Peter, who forgot everything else and smiled happily once he saw what the object was.

It was his lost chessman.

Finally.


End file.
